Senior Occupational Therapist, Student Health and Wellness

Follow us on LinkedIn

Posting Reason:

New Position

Job Type:

Employee

Anticipated Duration in Months (for contracts and temporary assignments):

15

Job Family:

Student Health and Wellness

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service - Department:

Student Affairs, Mental Health Services Counselling Service

Campus:

Minto Sports Complex

Union Affiliation:

SSUO

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/11/05

Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/11/16

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

SSUO Grade 11

Salary Range:

$95,594.00 - $120,750.00Students may not always recognize the connection between their screen habits and symptoms such as increased anxiety, depression, metabolic changes and cognitive challenges. As part of a broader digital dependency project team, you will contribute to work on one or more of four key strategies aimed at positively influencing students’ behaviours: awareness building, health promotion interventions, occupational performance coaching (OPC), and knowledge translation and skill building.

About Student Services:
Student Services is at the very heart of the student experience at the University of Ottawa. We recruit the very best future students, support them throughout their university years and leave them well-prepared for fulfilling careers and future studies. Our team of more than 600 dedicated staff provides the services that keep students happy, well and thriving as they pursue their ambitions. We help them apply and enrol for courses, we oversee 11 residences and an award-winning Dining Hall, we organize fun events, we provide extensive recreation program opportunities and varsity sports activities, we run an innovative career development and experiential learning program and much more!

There’s nothing more rewarding than helping future generations reach their full potential at a world-class university. With our wide variety of career opportunities and professional development pathways, we’re sure that you’ll enjoy the experience as much as our students do.

Position purpose:

Reporting to the Associate Director, Student Mental Health Services, the Occupational Therapist (OT) delivers specialized clinical services to students and post-doctoral fellows experiencing digital dependency and related mental health challenges. The incumbent exercises considerable professional judgment and autonomy in providing occupation-focused, strengths-based occupational therapy and contributing to the continuous improvement of student mental health services. The role has a direct impact on student well-being, academic success, and the achievement of the University’s mental health and wellness objectives.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Improve University of Ottawa students’ and post-doctoral fellows’ participation in academic and other personally valued activities through Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC), primarily in an on-line (virtual) setting.
• Optimise the outcomes of the OPC component of the digital dependency project and drive continuous improvement by monitoring and evaluating student progress using standardized tools (e.g., COPM, DASS-21), and by participating in OPC training, fidelity checks, data collection, evaluation, reporting and other activities, and liaising with the Unplug to Heal project team.
• Ensure coordinated care, early intervention, and appropriate referral pathways within a stepped-care model by closely collaborating with Health Promotion Specialists on an ongoing basis. Participate in the establishment of indications for referral to OPC.
• Promote digital dependency awareness with campus stakeholders such as faculty staff, support staff and wellness professionals and empower them to provide further support to students with digital dependency and enhance their capacity.
• Maintain appropriate documentation in compliance with the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario (COTO) and University standards.
• Participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of the digital dependency project.
• Participate in research regarding OPC for university students and post-doctoral fellows.
• Maintain high-quality services and on-going development of the service by collaborating closely with the professor lead for Occupational Performance Coaching.

What you will bring:

• Current registration in good standing with the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario (COTO).
• Minimum of three (3) years of clinical experience in health care, mental health, counselling, health promotion, or a related field.
• Bilingualism: French and English (spoken and written), to be considered for this position, candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.
• Experience with strengths-based, client-driven, and goal-oriented coaching approaches (e.g., Occupational Performance Coaching, ACT-informed strategies).
• Experience in brief, solution-focused interventions.
• Advanced knowledge of mental health, addictions, and behavior change principles.
• Strong clinical assessment and intervention skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and therapeutic communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to respect diversity and use inclusive behavior, responding with sensitivity and self-awareness to the unique needs of students, including visible and non-visible dimensions of diversity.
• Ability to work autonomously and within interdisciplinary teams.
• Ability to provide service and student supervision virtually.

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [email protected] to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.